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Men’s Basketball: Irish run away with victory

Irish guard Tory Jackson said it was just “one of those halves” when nothing seemed to go in for Notre Dame in its 79-47 exhibition win over Stonehill Sunday.

The Irish missed multiple layups and ended the half 12-for-32 shooting from the floor and only held a five-point halftime lead.

But the Irish had the right remedy for their problem – a little laughter.

“We got to the basket, it just didn’t go in, like a lid was on top of the basket,” Jackson said. “It was kind of funny to us. We kind of just laughed it off.”

And in the second half, the lid was raised from the basket and the shots began to fall for Notre Dame, as they normally do.

The Irish shot 20-for-35 in the second half.

“I thought we did a better job from the Briar Cliff game, to this game of not being frustrated when the offense wasn’t going well,” Irish coach Mike Brey said after the game, referring to Notre Dame’s first exhibition win, a 103-64 win over Briar Cliff. “And I think that’s why we were able to start the second half in a pretty good rhythm offensively and make some shots and move the ball a little bit better.”

The Irish came out in the second half and quickly put the game away. Notre Dame went on an 18-7 run that featured a little bit of everything – a jumper and layup from Jackson and 3-pointers from senior guard Kyle McAlarney, who finished with nine points, and senior forward Luke Zeller, who finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. The run put Notre Dame up 47-31.

Following a media timeout with 14:16 left, the Irish steadily pulled away over the next 10 minutes, outscoring Stonehill 22-10 in that time frame.

“I feel like we played well defensively and that’s really what we really wanted to focus on,” Jackson said. “And the second half, our offense, it came.”

Notre Dame officially begins regular-season play against USC Upstate Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at the Joyce Center. Wednesday is national signing day, when Brey is expected to sign four recruits – guard Joey Brooks and forwards Jack Cooley, Tom Knight and Mike Broghammer.